: Amedisys agrees to merge with UnitedHealth, and terminates deal with Option Care Health
Amedisys Inc. AMED disclosed Monday that it has agreed to merge with UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH, and terminated its merger with Option Care Health Inc. OPCHagreed on in early-May. Under terms of deal with UnitedHealth, each Amedisys share will be converted into the right to receive $101 in cash, which represents as 10.7% premium to Friday’s closing price of $91.21. The agreement comes after the at-home healthcare services company disclosed in early-June that it had received a $100-a-shares cash bid from UnitedHealth’s Optum, which it believed would be considered “superior” to Option Care Health’s all-stock bid. Amedisys said Option Care Health will receive a $106 million deal-termination fee. Based on Amedisys’ 32.56 million shares outstanding as of April 28, UnitedHealth’s buyout bid values Amedisys at $3.29 billion. Once the deal closes Amedisys will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of UnitedHealth. Amedisys shares gained 0.3% in premarket trading, UnitedHealth’s stock edged up 0.2% and Option Care Health shares rallied 5.6%, while futures ES00 for the S&P 500 SPX slipped 0.1%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.